Audified MixChecker review

Mixing is a process, and a big part of that process has nothing to do with tweaking EQs or compressors -- a big part of it is simply listening. Listen in the car, listen on different headphones, listen on cheap old radios -- anything to get an insight into what your mix sounds like for people who don't have monitors worth thousands of dollars. That process, however, can take time, and Audified is here to simplify it with a new plugin called the Audified MixChecker.

8.3/10

Mixing is a process, and a big part of that process has nothing to do with tweaking EQs or compressors — a big part of it is simply listening. Listen in the car, listen on different headphones, listen on cheap old radios — anything to get an insight into what your mix sounds like for people who don’t have monitors worth thousands of dollars. That process, however, can take time, and Audified is here to simplify it with a new plugin called the Audified MixChecker.

The Audified MixChecker basically gives you the ability to listen to what different systems sound like without leaving your computer — simply tap a button, and the plugin will give you an idea of what the mix would sound like in any given situation.

User interface

The interface of MixChecker is extremely simple. All you need to do is insert the plugin on your master bus, and you’re good to go. You’ll find a row of “Compensation” buttons, which let you choose what kind of system you’re listening on between 5-inch monitors, 8-inch monitors, and headphones. Next to that, there’s a bypass button, and under that you’ll find 12 buttons representing different listening environments. Those include a TV, the car, earbuds, a laptop, a phone, and so on.

That’s really it — there’s no hidden tab, no secret features you’re missing, and no steep learning curve to discourage you from learning how to use the plugin at all. That’s a good thing — the point of MixChecker is to make checking mixes easier, and it would be a little counterintuitive if the interface was too difficult to learn.

So it’s simple — but how does it sound?

Considering there aren’t really any other plugins like this out there, it’s hard to compare it to anything. When you first install the plugin, we recommend playing around with it for a few hours and loading up a few songs that you’re nice and comfortable with so as to get a sense of how each algorithm sounds.

If you have a great mix, it should sound great across all of the different settings — that’s the ultimate goal of a great mix. So, when you’re going through the settings make little tweaks so that you can achieve a mix that sounds good in all situations.

Perhaps the least helpful section of the plugin is the Compensation section. It’s aimed at delivering a flat frequency curve no matter what your listening situation is, but the options are just too vague to really help — for example, the “headphones” button is obviously going to vary hugely depending on the headphone model you’re actually using.

In general, while the plugin isn’t perfect the processing options it has seem to be pretty accurate. The car option sounds like you’re listening in a car, the earbuds option like you’re listening to earbuds, and so on. Sure, sounds are going to vary widely depending on your real-life environment, like the room you’re listening in and the headphones you’re using, but this is definitely a helpful tool.

Conclusions

We recommend still listening to your mixes in your car and on different systems. Why? Nothing can replace a real-life listening environment. Where this plugin comes in, however, is that you may not need to do that anywhere near as much. Instead of doing a mix, then bringing it out into the world, writing down tweaks, and going back to the drawing board, you can get a near-perfect mix while saving quite a lot of time. This plugin doesn’t totally replace how valuable bringing your mix to different environments can be, but it certainly comes close and saves a ton of time in the process.